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The next venue to host a Ryder Cup on European soil will take centre stage this week, as seven of the stars from the last biennial contest compete in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National.
Defending champion Graeme McDowell will be joined by his Gleneagles team-mates Thomas Bjørn, Jamie Donaldson, Victor Dubuisson, Stephen Gallacher, Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood for the 99th edition of the tournament, which is continental Europe’s oldest national Open.
McDowell is bidding for a hat-trick of victories, having first won the title by four strokes from Richard Sterne in 2013 before successfully defending it last year, when he finished a shot clear of American Kevin Stadler and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee.
The Northern Irishman won all three of his matches at The 2014 Ryder Cup and his partner for two of those, Frenchman Dubuisson, will lead the home hopes over the Albatros course which will host the contest against the United States in 2018.
Dubuisson returns home following a top 20 finish in last week’s BMW International Open in Germany. He will be hoping to become the first Frenchman since Thomas Levet in 2011 to win his home Open.
Kaymer is also a former winner at Le Golf National, having defeated team-mate Westwood in a play-off in 2009, and he will be aiming to bounce back from missing the cut in the US Open and in Munich last week.
In addition to Dubuisson, there is a strong looking home challenge, which includes Gary Stal, already a winner on The 2015 Race to Dubai in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, and Alexander Levy, who won twice in 2014.
Le Golf National, on the outskirts of the French capital Paris, is a European Tour Destination and member venue of The European Tour Properties network
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